They'll try to copy it. They may even pay Adrian to shape the plug. But it won't ride like one becuase it will be made in China with different construction methods and or materials. In the US it would cost more than the orginal. The only people who would buy it are newbies who want a plastic skinned board they don't have to take good care of. Experienced kiters should buy the original.

I will not be so sure that the undergrounds you buy in the US are the same the pro rides.
Are the trays full custom boars? I think they are not. In fact they are somewhat heavy.
In fact a well constructed produccion board could be light and strong,
I have a carbon Prankster, up to date one of the best constructed and finished boards. ( I dont ride it anymore because it is too stiff).

The Underground boards are full custom. Check the web site. There are hand made. I just had mine built 2 cm wider than normal. You can't do that with production stuff.

Sure some pro riders have their custom boards built lighter than what the public would want. My friends who went to the Gorge, said the pros were breaking boards every month. They only pay $300.00 for their boards. They can afford to have throw away models.

I don't know if Martin Vari rides a special throw away model. I don't care, I wouldn't want a throw away model.

I'm sure if you want exactly what Martin is riding they will build it for you, if it's really different.

If you see an Underground, then you know it's a hand made custom. Anybody who knows about board building can tell stuff from China and stuff that is custom.

They are lighter than anything made in China. That is the biggest problem with stuff from China, it's heavy. Even all the fancy Cabrinha stuff.

I'm not trying to sell you on Underground, but I am a fan of custom boards and think a lot of production stuff is junk. So I am biased in this way.

Dwight,
I agree with you that custom boards are often better, since they are more up to date, have better materials and are mostly lighter.
An observation on Undergrounds: I have ridden the Lunchtray and the Dinnertray and felt that they are both heavier than other customs I have ridden.
My hypothesis is that they are heavier because they don't extract the excess resin from the boards, so that they are a bit heavier. It could be the relatively thick gel coat, though, too.

I don't know if they vacuum bag the excess resin away. They may not, or they could just be using more layers of glass to make them durable.

My Roberts custom board was vacuum bagged and lighter than my Underground, but it did dent on the bottom. The skin was fragile on the Roberts too. The Underground boards seem to be tough in the skin. This makes me think they use many extra layers of glass.

My old Jimmy Lewis custom Vulcan was about the same weight as the Underground. It was not vacuum bagged and it too was very tough in the skin. It never dented.

On the Underground web site they say they use a CNC milling machine to shape the boards. I think that may be the only automation in their process.

I think Underground may have to make their boards more durable than a small local custom board builder. They are a big worldwide company now. IÃ¢â‚¬â„¢ve been told they build 250 WTÃ¢â‚¬â„¢s per month. ItÃ¢â‚¬â„¢s very difficult to deal with board problems on a worldwide level, so avoiding them becomes more important than to a small local company. LetÃ¢â‚¬â„¢s not mislead anyone into thinking they are heavy. They are lighter than any board coming from China and only heavier than the very lightest custom boards. I would rate the weight as average for a custom board. The newest boards with 36 footstrap inserts are a little heavier. This is the problem with trying to satisfy a worldwide market. The original WTÃ¢â‚¬â„¢s had 12 inserts.

I think they have done a good job of building a light custom board that would appeal to everyone, including the typical production board buyer who expects durability.

You can still order them customized to your needs and it doesnÃ¢â‚¬â„¢t cost extra.